Due to advances in computing technology, businesses today are able to operate more efficiently when compared to substantially similar businesses only a few years ago. For example, networking enables employees of a company to communicate instantaneously by email, quickly transfer data files to disparate employees, manipulate data files, share data relevant to a project to reduce duplications in work product, etc. Furthermore, advancements in technology have enabled factory applications to become partially or completely automated. For instance, operations that once required workers to put themselves proximate to heavy machinery and other various hazardous conditions can now be completed at a safe distance therefrom.
Further, imperfections associated with human action have been minimized through employment of highly precise machines. Many of these factory devices supply data related to manufacturing databases or web services referencing databases that are accessible by system/process/project managers on a factory floor. For instance, sensors and associated software can detect a number of instances that a particular machine has completed an operation given a defined amount of time. Further, data from sensors can be delivered to a processing unit related to system alarms. Utilizing such data, industrial applications are now becoming partially and/or completely automated.
While various advancements have been made with respect to automating an industrial process, utilization and design of controllers has been largely unchanged. In more detail, industrial controllers have been designed to efficiently undertake real-time control. For instance, conventional industrial controllers receive data from sensors and, based upon the received data, control an actuator, drive, or the like. These controllers recognize a source and/or destination of the data by way of a symbol and/or address associated with source and/or destination. More particularly, industrial controllers include communications ports and/or adaptors, and sensors, actuators, drives, and the like are communicatively coupled to such ports/adaptors. Thus, a controller can recognize device identity when data is received and further deliver control data to an appropriate device.
Controllers can also be employed in connection with creating logs of events, sensed data, and the like that are associated with industrial environments. In fact, some regulatory agencies require generation of audit logs for manufacture of particular consumables. In more detail, consumables such as food and pharmaceuticals, if not manufactured precisely according to a particular recipe, can cause significant injury to those consuming such goods. Thus, regulatory agencies attempt to protect the general public by ensuring that products are made according to recipe. Often, companies manufacturing items want to closely track production of such items for quality assurance and to aid in avoidance of liability.
When tracking manufacture of consumables or other items, various sampling rates must be set. For example, it may be desirable to sample temperature of an oven once every thirty seconds. The sampling rate is defined a priori by an operator or other individual with knowledge of the process. Problems can arise, however, if conditions associated with the process alter. For instance, ideally the temperature of the oven is to remain constant, such that sampling at the selected sampling rate is adequate with respect to a number of measurements retained. If, however, problems arise with respect to the oven, the temperature can change drastically in a short amount of time. The sampling rate, however, remains unchanged such that time of malfunction of the oven can be difficult to discern.